【Brief】
The plaintiff YKK Corporation, formerly known as "Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikasha", was founded in 1934 and headquartered in Japan. It is a globally renowned zipper manufacturer. YKK Corporation has been using "YKK" as a trademark since January 1946. Their "YKK" zippers are widely favored and used in fields such as clothing, shoes, bags, bedding, etc. YKK Corporation entered the Chinese market as early as 1992 and established Shanghai Yoshida Zipper Co., Ltd. under the brand name "Yoshida". Subsequently, they established zippers, snaps, buttons, building materials, industrial machinery and other business companies in Dalian, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Wuxi and other places. YKK Corporation filed a trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit claiming among others that: the three defendants immediately stop their unfair behavior of infringing the registered trademark "YKK"; Xuanli Company immediately stops using and cancels the domain name "ykktj.com.cn"; Jitian Company stops using or changing their corporate name, and the corporate name shall not contain the words "Jitian" (Chinese character of "Yoshida"). The Third Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin supported the plaintiff's claim for unfair competition.
【Reasoning】
Xuanli Company used the distinctive part of the domain name “ykk.co” of the plaintiff on its website, which domain name is of certain influence. This will make people mistakenly believe that the website is the website of the plaintiff's Tianjin branch or its goods have a specific connection with the plaintiff, and constitutes unfair competition. Xuanli Company displayed "YKK Official Authorized Dealer", YKK Corporation Dealer Certificate on its website, marked "YKK Authorized Distributor" in their electronic contracts, used "YKK Tianjin" in the employees’ WeChat nicknames, and signed "YKK Zipper Authorized Dealer" on their WeChat moments, which behaviors are all false commercial propaganda and unfair competition. The brand name "Yoshida" of the plaintiff's former name "Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikasha" has significant distinctiveness and popularity in this field, carrying the goodwill accumulated over years and continuing to the existing enterprise. The goodwill has become an important factor for the plaintiff to obtain and maintain market competitiveness and trading opportunities. The defendant Jitian Company should be aware of the popularity of the "Yoshida" brand name, but instead of making reasonable concessions when registering their company name, they used the company name with this brand name as its distinctive part to engage in zipper trading. Subjectively, they had the intention of using the plaintiff's goodwill to increase their market share. Objectively, they may be misleadingly associated with the plaintiff. Therefore, they undermined the competitive advantage of the plaintiff in the market, violated the principle of good faith and the generally accepted business ethics, and constituted unfair competition.
